Every year In December every year there is a day that is known as Wreaths Across America. The mission is to help people remember, honor, and teach themselves and others about our veterans. It is carried out by coordinating wreath laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 1,400 additional locations across the 50 United States, at sea, and aboard.
This year Wreaths Across America was on December 15th. The Career Services team at the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Johnson City, Tennessee, made up of Jennifer Barnett and Gail Blakley, took part in Wreaths across America at the Mountain Home Veterans Cemetery in Johnson City. There are 16,000 veterans that have been laid to rest in the Mountain Home Cemetery.
During the event, around 7,500 wreaths were placed on veterans’ graves. It was encouraging to for those from the campus to see that there were hundreds of other people from young kids to the elderly there to lay wreaths on the veterans’ graves. Each branch of the service was recognized and a special wreath was place out for each one of them. They also placed a wreath out for servicemen and women that did not make it back home from their service. For some veterans this is the only time that anyone visits their resting place. For some of these fallen veterans, they no longer have any living family members. Others of them have no family members that come out to pay their respects at their grave sites.
Both Jennifer and Gail have family members that are buried in the Mountain Home Veterans Cemetery so this is a special and meaningful event for them and their family members. According to Jennifer and Gail, “it was an honor to be able to lay a wreath on a veteran’s grave.” Many others expressed the same feelings of being a part of this important annual event.